Killer B
is a shinobi from Kumogakure and the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox. Background From the age of five, Bee has been best friends with Motoi, whom he always greeted with a fist bump. After the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox lost control and killed Motoi's father, his father chose to seal it inside him with the Iron Armour Seal. Soon afterward, Bee suffered from similar prejudices against jinchūriki, not too different from that the villagers of Konohagakure had against Naruto Uzumaki. However, he kept smiling and pushing himself to be the best jinchūriki that he could be, so his brother, the Fourth Raikage, wouldn't be hurt politically. Motoi tried to kill Bee, believing it would also kill the Eight-Tails and avenge his father, but Bee disarmed him and didn't bear him any ill will, which led Motoi to not speak to Bee for thirty years from shame. Bee would later train with his brother on an island in the Land of Lightning, where there he would find the Falls of Truth. There he would learn how to control the Eight-Tails in the blink of an eye. Sometime since then, much like Naruto, Bee has become beloved in Kumogakure as the village's hero, or, as Motoi called him, the Hero of Heroes. Appearance Killer Bee is very similar in terms of appearance with his older brother, being dark-skinned and possessing a muscular build, as well as white head and facial hair (blond in the anime). On his right shoulder, he has a tattoo that says , which could be the Iron Armour Seal; and on his left cheek, he has a tattoo of a bull's horn (correspondingly, the Eight-Tails has horns like a bull, and the left one is partially missing). Like his brother and father, his top lip is of a darker hue than his bottom one. Killer Bee wears oval-shaped sunglasses and a white-coloured forehead protector. He also wears a white-coloured one-strap-over-one-shoulder Flak Jacket of a Kumogakure Jōnin, with a red rope tied around his waist, white hand-bands, and a white scarf around his neck. He carries seven swords on his back, but currently has only two, having lost five in battle against Taka and another during his fight with Kisame Hoshigaki, but seemingly regaining one afterwards. Personality Killer Bee is very proud of his own power, and like Naruto Uzumaki, has great overconfidence and can be quite cocky and stubborn, especially in terms of his own strength, demanding respect from others and asks to be called and his tailed beast be called . Bee has a special way of expressing his pride through song, more specifically in rap-style. He will even write his rhymes in the middle of a fight, or during an important meeting, even if they are no good. This sometimes causes the people around him to become greatly bothered by him. Bee doesn't respect anyone who would make fun of rap or his lyrics. The Raikage has noted that Killer Bee is not the type of person to work with the strategies created by people and that he would only bring chaos into a battlefield. The Raikage also notes that he is the only being that Killer Bee will listen to, as he is able to keep him in check. Despite all this, Killer Bee knows talent when he sees it, and respects those with it. The primary example is his fellow Kumogakure jinchūriki, Yugito Nii, who he looked up to for her extreme skills.Naruto - Second Artbook He had also praised Sasuke after their fight, stating he was one of the strongest shinobi he had ever fought. Bee has a very close relationship with his older brother, the Raikage. According to Motoi, the reason behind him becoming a jinchūriki was for the sake of his brother, even if it meant being shunned by the villagers. He didn't complain, and was always cheerful and determined. Killer Bee seems to wish to leave his village for a vacation due to being tired of being the guardian and he can also be very lazy and not much of a hard worker, ready to transform into his full Eight-Tails form and fake his defeat and capture, only to escape from his village for a "vacation." When the Fourth Raikage, Darui and C learned that Killer Bee was not captured by Akatsuki, they immediately guessed his intentions and were not surprised by it, though they were very displeased. However, when someone close to him is in danger, Killer Bee has no qualms about putting himself at risk to save them, if necessary, as seen when he prioritized the safety of his singing master Sabu and his pet, Ponta, first over confronting Kisame head-on when the Akatsuki confronted his entourage. This caring nature differs him from a typical jinchūriki, most of whom are cynical and uncaring towards others. However, it was hinted that his past as a jinchūriki may not have been unlike Naruto's, since Motoi claimed that being a fellow host, Bee understands what Naruto went through. He has a casual relationship with the Eight-Tails, frequently engaging in friendly conversation with it, even sitting upon its nose at one time. He was also completely unaffected by Naruto's Harem Technique, resisting lustful advances and even appearing indifferent. Naruto stated that Killer Bee is the first man to resist this jutsu. Bee is also very kind and compassionate, having befriended all the giant animals on the training island in the Land of Lightning, as well as never expressing any ill will to Motoi who tried to take his life, nor against the villagers who used to shun him. Abilities As the guardian of Kumogakure and jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee is an extremely powerful ninja, capable of overwhelming the entire Team Taka all by himself, and has had his skills praised by several Kumogakure ninja, including his older brother. Madara Uchiha claimed that he is the perfect host. Similar to how other jinchūriki obtain physical traits from their inner demon, Killer Bee is able to produce ink from his mouth, which he mainly uses to write lyrics when he is lacking of regular writing tools or to blind his opponent. As expected of a jinchūriki, Killer Bee has a very large reservoir of chakra, enough to make Samehada get very excited and turn against Kisame. During his time on an island where he trained to control the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee tamed almost all of the island's beasts. Bee is at least knowledgeable enough of seals to know that Naruto's Four Symbols Seal is better than his own Iron Armour Seal. Killer Bee has shown the ability to think on the fly, as shown when he used the Body Replacement Technique to switch places with the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox's tentacle so he could escape Sasuke Uchiha's Amaterasu. Taijutsu Bee possesses immense physical strength and combat prowess, capable of disarming a skilled opponent like Suigetsu with his bare hands, and winning a sumō match against a giant bear. He is incredibly durable in battle, having received a solid kick to the neck from Sasuke Uchiha only to drop his sword and begin writing lyrics, escaping unscathed after being hit by the electricity of Sasuke's Chidori, and blasted from behind with a powerful punch from Jūgo. Killer Bee has a fighting style which is similar to that of the Raikage's because they both use wrestling moves instead of standard taijutsu. He supplements the speed and power of his taijutsu with his tailed beast's cloak. Kenjutsu While originally only carrying two swords when he was young, Bee has developed his swordplay to an incredible level. Possessing a unique fighting style, Bee holds his seven blades in between the joints of his arms (left armpit, both elbows), right leg, stomach, the right side of his neck, and in his mouth. As strange as it appears, Bee is very skilled with this, spinning around like a buzz saw and overwhelming his opponent with all of the varying swings, giving him great versatility very similar to hip-hop dance which makes it difficult to predict his movement. When he finds an opening, Bee can impale his opponent with most of his swords quickly and simultaneously. Neither Suigetsu nor Sasuke could read his sword work, despite the former being a highly trained swordsman and the latter having the Sharingan. He is also capable of cutting through almost anything when he flows his lightning chakra through his blades. He can also use these blades as mid-range projectiles, and coat them with lightning chakra to slice right through the target. By covering himself with the Eight-Tails' chakra, he creates an "Eighth" sword. Samehada betrays Kisame due to Killer Bee's high chakra level, and Killer Bee intended to use it as his main weapon, unaware that Kisame was able to hide within the monstrous blade itself, although it returned to him, after Kisame was exposed. Nature Transformation During the battle with Sasuke he displayed the ability to flow lightning-natured chakra through his blades to increase their cutting power, similar to Sasuke's own jutsu. Killer Bee's prowess in Lightning Release techniques is so great, he can charge a sharp but weak pencil-point to pierce straight through a large tree trunk and even through the ground. As stated by Kisame, Killer Bee is able to do this by increasing the vibration frequency of his lightning chakra to surpass the standard penetrative force of wind chakra. Jinchūriki Transformations at Suigetsu.]] Killer Bee has full control over his tailed beast, something which few others have been able to accomplish. Like other jinchūriki, Killer Bee has the ability to create a chakra cloak by drawing on part of his demon's power. He can then form this chakra into the form of two horns, and use them to attack the enemy with a technique called Lariat. This attack has incredible speed and power, but the linearity of his movements makes him easier to predict. Because he has a strong relationship with his own tailed beast, it acts as his partner in battle, disturbing his chakra to dispel even genjutsu from Mangekyō Sharingan. Like his fellow Kumo-nin, Yugito Nii, Killer Bee is able to become his tailed beast with great ease. Unlike her, however, he can retain complete control even in this fully released state. He can also partially transform parts of his chakra shroud into parts of the Eight-Tails' body. When fully transformed, he can easily fire a Tailed Beast Ball many times the size of its already giant body, but Killer Bee was forbidden from transforming by A. Bee makes it a point to ignore this order when he can, either when training or to fight formidable opponents. His control over his forms is so great, he can form all eight tentacles on his back without a cloak, and use them to balance various blocks perfectly,Naruto chapter 515, page 06-07 and form one of his arms into the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox's arm and fist.Naruto chapter 506, page 07 Part II Invasion of Pain Arc Taka tracks Killer Bee to the Valley of Clouds and Lightning soon after he finishes training with his tailed beast. When Suigetsu attacked him, he easily overpowered him, and uses Suigetsu's sword to defeat Jūgo afterwards. Later when Sasuke Uchiha confronts him, he shows an unorthodox sword style where he manages to hold all seven of his swords in a rather awkward pose; this is deceiving as his seven sword style is extremely formidable and he even mortally wounds Sasuke as he was unable to track the swords even with his Sharingan. This would in fact have been a fatal hit, but Killer Bee mentions that Sasuke had channeled lightning-nature chakra through his body to avoid a fatal hit. As he moves in to finish Sasuke, Suigetsu comes to save him while Jūgo attacks from behind. Even while the three fighting him at once Killer Bee appears unfazed by their attacks and quickly moves away from their location. Finally getting annoyed with Taka, Killer Bee announces he will unveil the . Killer Bee formed his own demon chakra shield and proceeded to attack Taka. Sasuke then placed him in a genjutsu but Killer Bee was able to break it with assistance from the Eight-Tails. Killer Bee then struck Sasuke while his guard was down. In the end, he blasted a hole in Sasuke's chest and neck taking the surrounding organs along with it; claiming that a jinchūriki that has full control of his beast can become immune to genjutsu. He then completely released the full power of the Eight-Tails, ordering the team to cower in fear of him. Sasuke then hit the Eight-Tails with Amaterasu. As one of its tails was about to fall on Karin, Sasuke cut it with Chidori Sharp Spear. Killer Bee disguised himself as the cut part of the tail and escaped. The Eight-Tails transformed into an unconscious form of Killer Bee. With his defeat, Sasuke carries him away. When his brother, A, learns of his capture, he makes plans to deal with Sasuke and the Akatsuki. When the Akatsuki later tries to extract the Eight-Tails from Killer Bee's body, they find that it is only one of the beast's tentacles disguised as Killer Bee. He had made the appearance that he was captured to escape his village, where he had grown bored of being a guardian. Since his village now believes him to be captured, he uses this as an opportunity to take a "vacation" from being a guardian. As Eight-Tails comments that a new era is coming, Killer Bee thinks he means about his new music career. Five Kage Summit Arc Killer Bee is shown to be near a far off mountain practicing his music career with his seemingly new music teacher, Master Sabu, who thinks Killer Bee lacks passion in his singing. Later, Killer Bee is approached by Kisame Hoshigaki saying his Samehada tracked his powerful chakra scent. Killer Bee says he'll make quick work of Kisame. Much to Killer Bee's shock, all of his lightning techniques fail against Kisame as Samehada continues to eat all the chakra that gets close enough, even his demon chakra. Eventually, Kisame has Samehada unleash its true form. Later as the battle progresses, Killer Bee uses the Eight-Tail's chakra to transform into a eight-tailed version of the Eight-Tails, similar to a Naruto's six-tailed form along with the skeleton of an ox. Killer Bee then uses the Lariat technique on Kisame severely injuring him to the point of exposing Kisame's ribcage, while Samehada absorbs the Eight-Tails' chakra. Kisame then uses Samehada to heal himself and combines with Samehada transforming himself into a monstrous shark-like form. Bee continues to fight Kisame and eventually gets a head on attack from Kisame in which he partially transforms one of his tails into a Octopus tail and wraps Kisame in it. When Kisame tried to slice off Killer Bee's legs after he was rendered unconscious, Samehada dug itself into the ground to prevent that from happening. It also attacked Kisame to protect Killer Bee as it has grown fond of his octopus chakra. Killer Bee then regained conciousness after obtaining some chakra from Samehada, but still appears to be in a weakened state. Kisame kicks Samehada aside and prepares to sever Bee's legs with one of his own swords. After another failed attempt to kill Kisame with the pencil he threw at him earlier, Killer Bee is saved by his brother, the Raikage, C and Darui. Killer Bee and his brother then finish off "Kisame" by performing a Double Lariat to decapitate him. After that, Bee got reprimanded by A for running away from the village. When they returned to Kumogakure they were greeted by the villagers at the main gate. He was also greeted by his students, Omoi and Karui and showed off Samehada to them unaware that the real Kisame was hiding in the sword. Confining the Jinchūriki Arc Bee took part in a war meeting at Kumogakure, but didn't pay much attention to it, trying to find new rhymes instead. At a meeting of the Kage it was decided that the remaining jinchūriki were to be held on a remote island in the Land of Lightning. When Naruto and some other ninja arrived at the island they were attacked by a giant squid, but were then saved by Bee. On the way to the lodgings, they met a giant gorilla, which turned out to have been tamed by Bee, along with the other animals on the island. After everyone has settled, Naruto tried to get Bee to train him, but Bee refused because he's "on vacation." Naruto made some progress when Bee approved his rhyming and bumped fists with him, but Naruto accidentally insulted Bee while rapping. Naruto tried to use the Harem Technique, but with no results. Bee is later seen winning a match against a giant bear named Kintoki. Afterwards, the Eight-tails asked Bee why he didn't want to help train Naruto. Bee answered that he doesn't like anyone who would make a fool out of his rap, however, he also hinted there was another more personal reason for not helping him. Later Bee saved Motoi from the giant squid, and reaffirmed their friendship. After Naruto comes to terms with his inner hatred, Bee agrees to teach Naruto how to control his tailed beast. Bee jumps through the Falls of Truth, revealing to Naruto a hidden cavern, explaining that this is where he will battle the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Bee led Naruto to a cat head statue, and instructed him to place his head inside the mouth, claiming it would allow him to see and speak with the Nine-Tails. If he didn't have a pure heart, the statue would decapitate him. Naruto pretended to be decapitated, scaring Yamato. Killer Bee admitted (while rapping) to have pulled off the same prank when he trained. Once Naruto tapped the switch inside of it, a door to an empty room opened, where Naruto would attempt to control the Nine-Tails by trapping its chakra with his own. When Naruto released the tailed beast, Killer Bee attempted to help by holding it back with the Eight-Tails' tails and chakra, but failed to do so, as he couldn't use his powers to their fullest extent within Naruto's subconscious. As Naruto's attempts continued, Killer Bee used the last of his power to absorb a Tailed Beast Ball from the Nine-Tails, before being knocked out of the fight. When Naruto's transformation stopped, Bee asked Yamato if he did anything, who said he didn't do anything. After Naruto claims success, he and Killer Bee fist-bump, and communicate in a way that annoys Yamato. When Naruto reveals Kisame's presence in Samehada, Bee is confused, because he remembers decapitating Kisame, and is told that it was a special kind of clone. When Naruto is stuck on a wall after wounding Kisame, Killer Bee follows him and exits the Falls of Truth in time to see Guy sending Kisame flying violently. He later reunites with Samehada only for Kisame to take advantage of its affection and steal most of Bee's chakra. As he flees, Killer Bee was able to use his remaining chakra to help Might Guy give chase. After Kisame was defeated, Bee rapped about Guy's skills. Then after Kisame's suicide, Bee comforts a grieving Samehada. When Guy tries seeing what information Kisame had, a trap is activated, immobilizing them in the Water Prison Technique. After freeing himself, Bee tries to get to the shark, but is unsuccessful. He is also seen 'poking' Might Guy afterwards. Shinobi World War Arc Later he helps Naruto Uzumaki, Yamato, and Aoba Yamashiro evacuate all the animals into the Island Turtle's shell. He seems to know what's going on by now, and helps distract Naruto the best he could, and then starts teaching Naruto how to control his controlled jinchūriki form by forming all eight of the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox's tentacles on his back and creating and catching several blocks and stacking them up. After Naruto masters that exercise, the next part of his training began: learning how to use the Tailed Beast Ball. Transforming into the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox, he explained to Naruto how to transform fully into the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, however all Naruto could accomplish was transforming into a smaller form. He then explained the dangers of his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and then explained to Naruto how the Tailed Beast Ball worked. Finally, after seeing how Naruto created the Rasengan, Killer Bee claimed he could work on the Rasengan, noting its similarity to the Tailed Beast Ball, which Naruto exclaimed he was ready to do. Bee then stayed, watching Naruto train and telling him when he got the ratio correct. During their training Naruto suddenly sensed the Nine-Tails' chakra within the rampaging six-tailed Kinkaku far away from the temple. Wanting to investigate, Naruto left Bee in the temple, after making an excuse that he needed to go to the bathroom. Video Games Trivia * Bī, the Japanese pronunciation of "Bee," is also the Japanese pronunciation of the letter "B." This parallels the names of A, C, and J. * He quoted Muhammad Ali's famous line, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".Naruto chapter 411, pages 18-19 * Killer Bee makes various references to bees. This is a pun on the number of tails his tailed beast has. Eight in Japanese is , a homophone to the Japanese word for bee, . * Though not confirmed, Killer Bee was given the name of Kira Hachi by fans. It comes from the word "Kirābī" incorrectly translated into Japanese (Hachi is the Japanese word for "bee", as well as "Eight". Kira is a loanword of the English "killer"). Kira Hachi, can be translated to "Killer Eight", following the homophone of bee. * The nickname of this character may be a reference to The Killer Bees, a professional wrestling team in the World Wrestling Federation. Additionally, the Double Lariat resembles the "Cross Bomber" move used by the Hell's Missionaries tag-team in Kinnikuman, a wrestling manga. * Killer Bee has a unique personality, similar to black urban youth stereotypes. This could also either be a homage or a reference to the Wu-Tang Clan, who are martial arts enthusiasts. He calls himself the Killer Bee - an old "Wu-Tang" Kung Fu movie and group name of Wu-Tang Records. Most members and groups of this label get their stage name from the old "Wu-Tang" movies (Ex. Method Man, RZA, GZA, Kirābīs, and the records labels name itself). * His nickname may also be a reference to the Wu-Tang Killa Bees: a group of artists inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan. Quotes * "I'm the only one who gets to interrupt me!" * "I've got energy to spare and sparkling charm. The Eight-Tailed Beast's a killer bee rockin' the melody! OH YEAH!" * "I float...like a butterfly. And sting like a bee! 'Cause I'm the Eight-Tailed Beast!" References